


Slide

by orphan_account



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Gen, Memory Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 17:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7396087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sungyeol meets a strange man living in a hospital ward at the end of the corridor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slide

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [InfiniteRarepairFicathon2016](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/InfiniteRarepairFicathon2016) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Sunggyu sometimes has his memory reset, and with every reset, he'll end up forgetting someone - anyone. Sungyeol predicts that the next memory reset will happen in 6 hours, and something tells him that this time, he will be the one forgotten.

**** Sungyeol sets down the tray of food and turns to Sunggyu staring at him from the bed. He blinks once and purses his lips. “What’s on the menu?”

 

“Why don’t you get up and see for yourself?”

 

Sunggyu mutters under his breath, something like _no respect from the young kids these days_ , even though they go through this every single day since Sungyeol started working on—with Sunggyu. He sits up with Sungyeol’s arms supporting his waist, and peers at the breakfast tray.

 

“Mackerel?” Sungyeol nods. “I haven’t had that since…” He trails off, his throat working, as though struggling to find the words. Or the memory.

 

“I know, hyung.” Sungyeol brings the tray to set it on Sunggyu’s lap. “It’s the first time that you’ve smiled this morning.”

 

Sunggyu snorts, his struggle with memory forgotten. “Shut up. I’m hungry.”

 

Sungyeol rolls his eyes and picks up the spoon. “Always so happy to see me.” Sunggyu opens his mouth obediently. Sungyeol figures that it’s not time yet to tell him that the mackerel didn’t come from the kitchen three levels down. The real menu today is a grey protein compound that even Sungyeol can’t identify, Sungyeol bought the mackerel himself last night from the market two blocks from his house, and cooked it before his shift.

 

Sunggyu needs these small pleasures, and if Sungyeol’s being honest with himself, he needs them, too.

 

+++

 

Sungyeol graduated university with a degree in biological sciences and zero career prospects. At the two-year mark of his unemployment, he got a call from Dongwoo, his only friend who Sungyeol knew that actually has a job. Dongwoo told him that his company was hiring and desperate, and Sungyeol got the job one week later.

 

Most of the time, it wasn't not so bad. The company was a large pharmaceutical with its own hospital branches. Sungyeol worked from eight to eight, six days a week in a lab developing cultures, and when the nursing staff was shorthanded, he brought food trays to the patients on floor 11.

 

The first time, Sungyeol made a mistake of entering the last room in the ward—the one with restricted access—and came face to face with Sunggyu. He was a thin man, but not as thin as he is now, propped up on three pillows and hooked up to the most complicated machine Sungyeol had ever laid eyes on. The bed was pushed up to the window, and he can still see the image of the blood orange evening light on Sunggyu’s hair. It made him look like he didn’t inhabit the same space. 

 

Later, Sungyeol will find out that this is closer to the truth.

 

When Sungyeol came into the room by mistake, Sunggyu looked up at him and asked, “do I know you?”

 

“I’ve never seen you before.” Sungyeol set down the tray and eyed the clipboard next to the bed. Kim Sunggyu, 27, blood type A, etc., etc. “Sunggyu-sshi. Here’s your dinner,” he muttered. Sunggyu’s gaze was intimidating.

 

"You’re not supposed to be here," Sunggyu said quite rudely, and all the mystery surrounding him evaporated, leaving Sungyeol with only annoyance. 

 

Part of him wanted to snap back at him, but the sight of his thin frame made Sungyeol bite back the words. “I’m just subbing for the nurses. Good day," he said briskly.

 

"You're still not supposed to be here," Sunggyu called out, just before the door closed behind Sungyeol.

 

+++

 

He had gotten called into the main office the next day, and had left the room with a promotion that sounded like a threat.  _ Don't tell anyone about Sunggyu, keep his door locked after you're done, don't ask questions. _

 

Then, his department head sat him down and briefed him about the rules and procedures. 

 

_ You will make the food deliveries every six hours from eight am until you finish work, so that's breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Report anything unusual, any erratic behaviour... _ the department head trailed off.  _ He knows your face, right? _

 

Sungyeol nodded.

 

_ Good, good.  _ Pause.  _ That's all. _

 

Sungyeol had been at the door before the man called out to him again.

 

_ I trust that I have your strictest confidence,  _ he said with a gleam in his eye. Sungyeol could only nod again, a sickening feeling growing in his gut.

 

His hands shook so much the tray clattered onto Sunggyu's bedside table. Sunggyu took one look at him and smirked. "Told you so. Now you're stuck with me,” he said, and swished his soup around his mouth like a mouthwash. It was gross, but Sungyeol felt marginally better. At least there was something normal beyond the weird swerve that his life had taken.

 

+++

 

Sungyeol caught Dongwoo in the corridor a week into...whatever this was. He only managed to get Sunggyu's name out before Dongwoo was called away by his boss.

 

_ Sorry, I have to go. _  Dongwoo smiled, sounding completely unapologetic. 

 

He tried to text his friend, but he never answered except to say,  _ work's been insane lately… _

 

+++

 

Over time, they developed some sort of tentative friendship, like the symbiotic organisms growing in Sungyeol's lab. Sungyeol wheeled in food for Sunggyu. In turn, Sunggyu told what little he knew about why he was here.

 

"You're not even curious?"

 

Sunggyu ate another mouthful of his grey gruel and shrugged. "It felt like only yesterday when they took me here."

 

"Who?" Sungyeol couldn't help but lean closer and raise his voice. "Who took you?"

 

Sunggyu's spoon paused halfway to his mouth. His head swivelled to face Sungyeol. "I forgot. It's probably a long time ago." And he turned his gaze to the huge sprawling window in the hospital ward.

 

Sungyeol fidgeted in his seat and twisted his hands on his lap anxiously. Something wasn’t right, and it had something to do with Sungyeol.

 

After a long time, Sunggyu finally spoke again. "I hate this protein mix. Don't bring it next time. I'd rather starve."

 

The sun's rays glared through the window, menacing. It must hurt to look. Sungyeol wondered if Sunggyu was indeed looking outside, or just looking away.

 

+++

 

The change wasn't noticeable, but Sunggyu grew thinner over time. The department head invited Sungyeol down for another meeting.

 

_ Have you noticed anything different? _

 

Sungyeol shook his head.

 

The man sighed.  _ Make sure he eats. It'll be embarrassing if we have to hold him down and force him to. It's your responsibility, Lee Sungyeol. No? _

 

_ I don’t understand, maybe he needs help to eat...Can we get him something different? _

 

_ I’m sure he’s convinced you of a lot of things. But the last thing we need is for his schedule to change. Your appearance has stressed him enough, don’t you think so? _

 

_But..._

 

_I think you've caused enough trouble for our poor friend, hm? Asking him so many questions he doesn't have the answer to. Don't you think it's easier, sometimes, to just forget?_

 

_ Yes, sir, _  Sungyeol muttered, and was summarily dismissed.

 

The next day, he started bringing his own food to Sunggyu. Sunggyu had stared at the sashimi like he's never seen it before, and then started to eat. It only worked for a few days, before Sunggyu was back to picking at his meals.

 

"I'm not hungry," he told Sungyeol. "I'm lying in this bed all the time, how can I be hungry?"

 

"But you should eat, hyung," Sungyeol told him, discomfited. Sunggyu's collarbones were so stark against his skin, and his wrists looked like they could break if he sat the wrong way.

 

Sunggyu smiled at him, the distant sort of smile he had when he had something to say but didn't feel like sharing, and looked out of the window.

 

+++

 

"You know Dongwoo? Jang Dongwoo?" Sungyeol sets down the tray and scuttles to sit on the chair next to the bed, the one that's reserved for him. He's Sunggyu's only visitor. "He's never mentioned you to me before."

 

Sunggyu picked at his lunch and stared at him with one eyebrow raised.

 

"How was he like?"

 

"He was nice, I guess. Kind of quiet, which I appreciate." A side-glance at Sungyeol.

 

"Oh, please. I'm not"—Sunggyu snickers—"No, I can be quiet.” Sungyeol scowls.

 

"Try shutting up for five minutes, then."

 

Sungyeol clamps his mouth shut. He lasts for about thirty seconds. "But tell me more about Dongwoo."

 

Sunggyu laughs, a rattling sound that seems to drain the colour from his cheeks.

 

"Why did he stop coming?"

 

"Maybe he transferred." Sunggyu wipes at his eyes--tears from laughing too hard--but his hands come away dry.

 

Sungyeol bit his lip. As far as he knows, Dongwoo's been with the same department for years.

 

+++

 

_ It'll be an embarrassment if he can starve himself to death under your care, wouldn’t it? _

 

+++

 

“Sunggyu?” Sungyeol knocks on the door to the hospital room.

 

No answer. He wheels the food tray into the room, the wheels rattling against the linoleum floor. Sunggyu’s tucked so deep into slumber he seems to be sinking into his pillows.

 

Sungyeol puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes. Sunggyu doesn’t even seem to move. Somehow, that disappointed him. Even though what they have is a routine, a part of Sungyeol might have been looking forward to his chats with this strange man at the end of the corridor.

  
  


+++

 

One time, Sungyeol got a call from his mom asking him to come home early. He brings Sunggyu his dinner at 7.55 P.M.

 

They talked about Dongwoo, until Sunggyu’s eyes grew glassy and vacant. Sungyeol peered at him worriedly, waiting for him to speak again.

 

Sunggyu looked at him, and asked, “who’s Dongwoo?”

 

+++

 

1.50 P.M.

 

Sungyeol brings Sunggyu his lunch. He sets down the tray of food and turns to Sunggyu staring at him from the bed. He blinks once and purses his lips. “What’s on the menu,” he asks, all routine.

 

He leans forward and peers into the dish. “Mackerel?” Sungyeol nods. “I haven’t had that since…” He trails off, his throat working, as though struggling to find the words. Or the memory.

 

Sungyeol wheels the empty lunch tray out of the room. For the first time, as the door swings close behind him, he hears a foreign noise, like the whirring of a lock. He jams at the doorknob and it doesn’t budge.

 

Inside, Sunggyu’s staring at the window with a frown on his face. Sungyeol calls out through the small window on the door, hoping…

 

Sunggyu turns to him and raises an eyebrow. He opens his mouth to speak, but Sungyeol can’t hear him through the door. He reads from Sunggyu’s lips:

 

“You’re not supposed to be here.”


End file.
